Dancing with you
by Rose-Aki
Summary: Hiashi invites the whole Hyuga clan for Neji's birthday as a sign of change in the clan structure. With all the important people around, will Neji have time to dance with the person he wants to see the most on his birthday? Neji/Tenten


A/N: It has been a while since I wrote a story for Naruto, but I really wanted to write something for Neji's birthday, so here it is. I hope you like it :)

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The Hyuga clan was hosting the biggest birthday celebration they ever had and all clan members out of every part of the Fire Country were invited. When Hinata heard of her father's plan to celebrate Neji's birthday with the whole clan she was more than happy about it. A lot had already changed in their clan, but this seemed a major step in the right direction. She was sure that Neji would have liked to not celebrate his birthday at all or only with their friends, but he wanted to do everything he could to unite their clan as well.

Knowing that, Hinata had talked her father into letting Sakura, Ino and Tenten come too. The young Hyuga knew for a fact that Neji wanted to invite Tenten more than anything, but after Hiashi had announced that he was doing this celebration for him, Neji didn't want to ask for anything more from his uncle. Considering this, Hinata made sure that Tenten was at the celebration. Sure, having her best friends around her made her felt more confident, but she had mainly done that for Neji in hope that maybe her cousin and her best friend would finally get closer.

Ino might be the best match maker in Konoha, but Hinata wanted to try to be one for the sake of Neji and Tenten. Despite that her best friend had never right out said that she loved Neji, Hinata could see it by the look she often gave him. Her cousin was harder to read, but there were small hints here and there that he too held more feelings for his female teammate than friendship. The way he was always so protective of her and how he often invited her to stay for dinner at the Hyuga compound showed Hinata all she needed to confirm Neji's feelings for Tenten.

When the celebration started Hinata noticed a few of her relatives look critical at her friends, but she wasn't surprised. Having outsiders on a event like this was more than unusual, but the young Hyuga men seemed to enjoy the change of seeing new people. Sakura and Ino were asked to dance frequently and Hinata smiled when she saw how much fun her two friends had. However her plan to get her cousin and best friend closer seemed to turn out for the worse.

Tenten was the only one who hadn't been ask to dance so far and she got sadder by the minute. She knew that she wasn't the prettiest and with all the noble Hyuga women around she felt even more like she didn't belong here and it bothered her that a certain birthday boy hadn't approached her since she had arrived at the celebration. However what hurt the most was that Neji was dancing the whole evening with Hyuga women and not once came over to even greet her. There was no point in staying here if she was just being ignored.

When Sakura and Ino were once again on the dance floor Tenten decided to go home, but not before saying goodbye to her best friend.

"Thanks for inviting me Hinata, but I'm going home."

Hinata, knowing Tenten for so long and being her best friend, knew the reason for her sadness and tried her best to prevent her from leaving.

"Neji-nii-san is only being polite. He is the nephew of the clan leader and this is his birthday celebration, so he has to dance with a few clan women." Hinata tried to explain, feeling guilty that her plan seemed to backfire and hurt her best friend in the process.

"You are Hiashi's daughter and you declined almost all dances, so he can do that too."

"That's different. I don't plan on being clan leader one day and my father knows that, so he tries to help Neji become it." Hinata tried to reason with Tenten.

Her best friend seemed thoughtful for a moment before she spoke up again, the sad look on her face never disappearing.

"That's what he wanted after all isn't it? I'm happy for him, I really am, but that is only one more reason to leave. I would only stand in his way if I went over to him now and seeing that he hasn't even looked in my direction the whole evening I'm sure he won't miss me." With that she stood up and tried a small smile for the sake of the young Hyuga. "Thanks for tonight Hinata. I'll see you around."

Hinata looked sadly after her. If only Tenten knew that Neji had stolen glances at her the whole evening when he was sure that she wasn't looking. Neji was also the reason that no one had asked her to dance. Hinata had seen her cousin glare at anyone who made his way over to Tenten, clearly telling them to back off. Glances were after all the way most Hyugas communicated.

Sighing Tenten went out of the main room, which was full of people and made her way to the door. She was sure that Hinata had only wanted for all of them to enjoy the evening, but it had turned out to be only a frustrating experience for her. Looking down on the Chinese styled dress that Ino had picked out for her especially for tonight, she smiled sadly. Her friends had even talked her into letting her hair down for tonight and she had done that in hopes of catching the attention of a special Hyuga. Sure, what Hinata had said made sense, Hiashi was trying his best to change the structure of the clan and helping his nephew become clan leader would be a huge sign for that, but she was still disappointed that Neji hadn't even talked to her. Tenten was almost at the door when she was pulled out of her thoughts by the same guy, who she had been thinking about.

"Where are you going?" A deep voice let Tenten turn around in the empty foyer.

"Home. I don't want to sit around all night. No one even asked me to dance once." Neji could hear the sadness in her voice.

"That's because they know you are mine."

"Just because I'm your teammate they didn't dance with me? That makes no sense Neji."

Seeing that Tenten didn't understand he sighed and tried to make her see his point.

"They didn't ask you because you are my chosen one."

When the look of confusion deepened on her face, Neji pulled her to him without hesitation. It had driven him insane to see all these men looking at Tenten and the dress, that Ino had probably chosen for her, had tempted him the whole night already. Did she really think that no one had noticed such a beautiful girl? Neji was sure that if he hadn't scared a few of the other Hyuga men away with his glare Tenten would have been asked to dance all evening. Now however that didn't matter anymore and if she didn't understand what he meant with words he just had to show her, after all Hyugas didn't solve things with much talking.

The moment he leaned down and their lips met Tenten was surprised, but then she wholeheartedly returned the kiss. When they broke apart after a while Neji lead Tenten back in the main hall and on the middle of the dance floor, showing everyone what he knew the whole evening. This amazing kunoichi belonged to him and there was no one else he rather wanted to spend his birthday with.

Nobody noticed Hinata's smile while she was watching the couple. Maybe Ino was only the second best matchmaker after all.

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A/N: Please review and tell me what you think :)


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